


Prime Time

by ipskip (last7)



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Character Study, Emo, F/M, First Kiss, Last Kiss, Missing Scene, getting ready for inevitable death, just hella emo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-02
Updated: 2017-07-02
Packaged: 2018-11-22 08:40:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,165
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11376603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/last7/pseuds/ipskip
Summary: From the time they enter the lift to their last moments on the Scarif beach, Jyn Erso clings to hope but not to life.





	Prime Time

They don’t speak in the lift. There’s no need to and she doesn’t know what to say in any case. Alone, with him was enough.

Slumped against the wall, in between the bars of shadow she catches glimpses of his tired face, sharp angles and soft eyes, and she sees hope.

It swells and burns in her. She feels such an overwhelming sense of hope that the plans would reach the Alliance that she could almost say for certain they already have. Her hand had grasped the kyber crystal charm so tightly as she pulled the lever to transmit.

She thinks of her father.

_I did this for you._

She thinks of Saw.

_To save the Rebellion._

She thinks of Chirrut, Baze, Bodhi, K-2.

_To save the dream._

__

Thinks of Cassian.

__

Still here. Right before her. So close.

__

She drinks the sight of him in. His dirt streaked cheek, the small wounds, the sharp angle of his jawline and the stubble. A deeply mistrustful and closed face the first time she saw it, a mutual feeling that was only natural, and she recalls the handful of, not altogether unwelcome, times he had encroached on her personal space.

__

At Jedha City, she had noticed with interest, but nothing more, how he had pressed closer to her than the crowd necessitated him to.

__

Spitting in each other’s faces, their heated argument on the ship from Eadu brought them mere inches apart but she had only felt grief and betrayal; and it had felt all the more biting because she had started to like him. She had wanted to scream from the injustice of having her father die in her arms after hearing him call her Stardust once more. But by the end of Cassian’s confession, so dangerously close to emotional, her conviction had wavered. She could not blame him.

__

When he had offered to defy the council and go to Scarif with her she had tried to hold onto the cynical instincts that had best served her for much of her life, thinking something this good could not happen right after such disappointment. What she had not anticipated was the warmth that rose within her, a foreign feeling that magnified as Cassian had walked toward her and walked toward her until he was so near he had only to whisper, “Welcome home”, and she could hear it perfectly.

__

Atop the tower, she had wanted to pummel and kick Krennic to a pulp but Cassian had pulled her back into his chest and she had stayed there, grateful and relieved to see, feel him alive after she had convinced herself he was dead.

__

And now… His dark eyes, so vulnerable, locked on hers and she could not look away from them.

__

_I do, too. More time. But there is none._

__

It was unlikely they would make it off the planet. Imperial forces must know what they have done by now.

__

She feels a soft touch on her cheek and she tilts her head toward his hand, seeking more contact. Her eyes close involuntarily, wanting to rest because she is bone-tired but she can’t afford more time in the dark. She wants to see him properly, without the flashing fluorescent of the lift, and so she makes better use of her time by leaning into him, breathing him in; perspiration, leather, and musk. Comforting, alluring. His throat, still glistening with the effort of climbing the tower, moves with the swallow he takes. She looks up at him and sees something has changed. Something that makes her grab fistfuls of his shirt, close the short distance to his lips and kiss him as hard as she’s kissed anybody. Breathless and frantic, tongues and teeth; she senses his desperation with every nip of her lip, every attempt to pull her hips closer to his, and she responds in kind. She wants to rip his shirt out of his pants, get her hands onto his skin to see if he would shiver under her touch but there’s no time. No time.

__

_Will we survive this?_

__

He kisses his way feverishly across her jaw to the place behind her ear where he leaves his mark and whispers, “I hope.”

__

Tenderly, he kisses her ear and makes his way back to her face, softly softly places a kiss on each of her eyelids and, lastly, her forehead. She sighs. She wants to believe in his hope.

__

The lift door opens and she notices the light has changed. Stumbling out of the shadow of the tower, they hear an immense crackle and a deep rumble of something with enormous force hitting the surface of the water.

__

There is a massive object in the sky that does not belong there.

__

_My father’s creation._

__

They had held that fragile and precious little spark in their trembling hands and the Death Star had extinguished it easily, carelessly.

__

She meets Cassian’s resigned look with her own and they start making their way to the edge of the lapping water, falling to their knees onto the sand.

__

The growing dome of energy bathe their faces in yellow light and heat and she could almost make herself think it was a sun if she closed her eyes and blocked out the distant roar in her ears. But she doesn’t do that. She wants to face her death with all her senses. She wants to feel alive until the last possible moment.

__

On Jedha, she had been too busy running away from it to pay much attention but here, she could really see its power, even feel a little proud of it - a confusing sentiment for something that was going to kill her - because her father had made it and it worked so well. It’s beautiful, to be truthful.

__

_This is it, Cassian._

__

He knows.

__

“Your father would have been proud of you, Jyn.”

__

Her eyes well up and she wants the tears to fall but her body, from all her years of refusing to show weakness, doesn’t let them. Instead, she takes Cassian’s hand and squeezes it. She appreciates his words and the way he says it like he’s proud of her, too. Yes, she’s done all she can.

__

The wind is picking up. It’s almost here.

__

She pulls Cassian close in a last embrace and feels his arms wrap tightly around her, his heart beating strongly against her right breast and she hopes he can feel hers, too. The blinding light is closing in on her periphery and, unconsciously, she tightens her hold on him. All her thoughts are racing with unanswerable questions. Would it hurt? Would it be instant? Would she see her father again? She’s never believed in an afterlife. If there turns out to be one, she would happily live it in humbled appreciation; and if this is it, she would be okay with that as well.

__

_It’s so loud..._

__

She feels moisture on her cheek and she smiles a little into Cassian’s shoulder.

__

_… and so bright -_

__

**Author's Note:**

> Ever since I first saw Rogue One in theatres I wanted to write something for that very short moment Jyn and Cassian share in the lift. It struck me as so emotionally loaded, what with Giacchino's heartbreaking score for the whole Scarif destruction sequence. I saw the movie twice more in theatres but I waited for the digital release to get all the details right.  
> Thank you for reading! Comments are very very welcome.


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